Lost Light
by 23blenders
Summary: Edit: This is going to be my collection of darkfics. As in, death/pain/suicide that sort of thing. They won't be connected to one another and some may find them to be disturbing. Don't read if you can't handle hearing about depression.
1. Chapter 1

Dart had been training the centurions one day while Pit was taking care of some business on the earth. They were doing a drill on dodging projectiles when Dart got an odd feeling. The amulet that Pit had given him had jerked right before the strangeness, but he hardly had time to wonder about it because he heard a frantic voice calling him.

He didn't understand what was going on at first, but he got a sinking feeling when he saw Palutena'a tear streaked face.

"Dart, Pit's been in a fight. He got stabbed through the heart."

Before the words even had a chance to register, he understood at his core what had happened.

"He got what?!" Dart shouted, already running to her. "I think he might be hanging on..." She trailed off as she turned and went back the way she came, and he saw his twin lying on the ground in the distance. He saw the blood. "Can Viridi fix him? Have you called her yet?" he babbled, barely able to form a coherent thought.

"Yes, she can only teleport to the throne room. Go get her and bring her here." Palutena told him in a shaking voice. He nodded and ran to the throne room and waited for Viridi to show up. Meanwhile, he was internally begging Pit to hang on, to survive, even though he had a terrible feeling that Pit had already given up. He held out for Viridi though.

Despite the urgency of the situation, and the impatience Dart felt, Viridi took a very long time to show up. When she eventually did, he took her to where he could see Palutena and Pit and pointed her there.

He stood and watched her run over, then found that he could not just wait for it to be over. He had work to finish, anyway.

"Back to training, guys. Whatever happens to Pit, we won't find out any faster by standing still." he said hollowly. The centurions were reluctant, but Dart forced them back to training. And when he was done, Pit and the two goddesses were gone from the middle of Skyworld, where Palutena apparently had been when she got the distress call from Pit. He waited outside the temple, where he noted with increasing dread that there was no frantic activity, like there might be if Pit was critically injured, but still alive.

Eventually, Viridi showed up. He was almost sure at this point that Pit was dead, but he asked her anyway.

"Viridi, Pit. Is he..."

"He didn't make it, Dart." Viridi choked out.

He blinked, then after a few moments of silence he turned around and went back to the training grounds. For another hour, he mechanically led centurions through drills and at the time he would normally stop, he went and cleaned up at the hot springs. Then he went inside and sat in his room.

Viridi came in later, and was more composed as she told him that 'He's at peace now'. Then Dart felt a bolt of fury that he did not show. There is no 'at peace' in a violent death, and he was angry with her for suggesting that there was. But he remained impassive, nodding at the right times and making eye contact.

She left, and Palutena came later and wordlessly held him close. He didn't react to this, or the many hugs that followed in the next few days. She thought it might help him, and certainly couldn't hurt although he became more and more annoyed each time it happened. It got to the point where he thought to himself 'don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me' every time she approached him. But he said nothing, because he knew she needed to feel like it was useful for him.

A funeral came and went, with others wondering to each other in hushed voices whether Dart was ok when he refused to do more than brush his hand against Pit's cold one. He didn't really need to touch Pit, he already knew what dead things looked and felt like. Despite the attention given to making Pit look like he was sleeping, he looked all wrong. Mostly, his face looked too gray. His lips were blue. Dart felt his eyes sting when he saw his brother lying among the cushions, but he let no tears escape him. His face remained neutral and he spoke no goodbyes to Pit.

He did internally call Pit a fucking moron for not being more careful, not watching out better. Not keeping himself alive.

It was difficult to keep his grief at bay upon seeing Pit up close, but nothing tested him like when Palutena had the body burned. It took all his self control not to take his brother away from the hot flames and save him. Even though Dart knew that would help nothing. He left as the flames started catching on the pyre. He went in his room and with nobody to witness, he let the pain rip through him.

He'd knelt on his bed, facing the foot of it but ended up letting himself fall forward into a ball as pain jolted through his gut. He sobbed into the blankets as he argued with himself that he was not failing Pit by not saving him from the flames. That there was no way he could have saved Pit from death in the first place. It had been a task requiring only one angel, and there was no reason for Dart to go along. If he had, Pit would still be alive, but there had been no reason to think that Dart's presence would help in this task, and the centurions had needed training. And they would continue to need training.

Days passed, then weeks and months, continuing to train centurions. Leaving Skyworld was unthinkable. He didn't want a change right now, when everything in his world had already changed. He was mostly normal, but sometimes succumbed to the grief at odd moments when he was alone and couldn't push away replays of the day Pit had died. He was often angry with Pit, silently cursing the dead angel for leaving.

The worst part was when he came across a joke or a game that he thought was awesome and that he knew Pit would love. He wanted to share it so badly that it ached, but of course nobody else wanted to hear about these things. Palutena knew nothing of many of the things he loved and couldn't properly appreciate them with him. Pit was the only one he could share the things he liked with, and he was gone now. His brother was never coming back. Even though he wasn't alone, he was very lonely a lot of the time.

Neither goddess nor angel entered Pit's room for many months, although eventually Palutena insisted on cleaning it. There was no point in keeping any of this stuff around anymore. Dart didn't want to save any of it, but he also wanted nothing to do with handling it. He left that all to her and she never mentioned it to him.

Dart moved on from Pit, looked to the future. He said his goodbyes, said what he could not when the grief was still fresh. Thanked him for the short time they'd had, and for everything he'd done for the broken clone. Thanked him for showing Dart that he was loved, and allowing him to return it.

He kept his place in Skyworld. Dart saw little point in leaving, at this point. He didn't really want to leave one of the only people besides Pit who cared about him. But he would always bear the scar that losing his twin inflicted on him, and the shortened life would always hurt to think about.


	2. Chapter 2

**This isn't connected to the first chapter. I just have a bunch of ideas where I break Pit and/or Pittoo and have decided that I'm going to stick them all here so I'm not flooding the section with a whole bunch of very similar fics.  
**

* * *

It began with Pit's wings.

Awhile after the war, they finally grew out. Naturally, this was a cause for great joy and celebration for the young angel. Palutena clapped and laughed as he showed off, and had to remind him not to strain them too much or he'd hurt himself. He laughed off the warning and flew to his heart's content, ignoring the cramps he'd get in his wings after flying for too long.

A mere week after he first lifted himself off the ground under his own power, he fell.

He was flying relatively close to the surface of the earth when it happened. Pit's wings seized up from him overworking them. He screamed out for his goddess, but before she could figure out what the problem was she heard a sickening thump.

"Pit? PIT!" she called out in a panic, but all she heard were whimpers. She pulled him back to Skyworld, nausea starting when she laid eyes on his quivering form.

Pit's limbs were bent wrong, and loose from their sockets. She could see bone protruding and splintered, and his white tunic covered in blood that was even now still pouring out of him.

Palutena fought back the urge to vomit and picked him up, ignoring the ear-splitting shriek that Pit let out, and quickly dunked him in the hot spring.

The bleeding stopped. She pulled him out before the hot spring could heal too much of his unset broken bones, still ignoring his cries, and set him down on the floor. She gritted her teeth and started to carefully straighten out his limbs, but he was writhing and crying and weakly begging her to stop.

Time was of the essence, but she had a sinking feeling that the damage was too great for promptness to fully heal. After a moment of indecision, she had a centurion fetch a potion that would put him to sleep. Until then, she stroked his hair and spoke soothingly to Pit, and he slowly quieted.

"I'm sorry Lady Palutena. I should have stopped earlier, but I was having so much fun flying that I didn't even notice that my wings hurt." he spoke hoarsly, the first thought that had come to his mind was apologizing for disobeying Palutena. She merely told him it was alright, even as she looked behind him at his warped wing bones and knew that flying probably wouldn't happen again. Not even with her help.

With great difficulty, she fed the sleeping potion and it worked quickly, his eyes rolling back into his head and his twitching muscles calming. Then came the long task of setting his bones, then putting him back in the hot spring to get as much benefit as possible.

Pit was rather lacking in his usual cheery composure when he woke up. Although he didn't ask and she didn't volunteer the information, he knew anyway that he probably couldn't fly again.

Even he utterly failed at being cheerful when faced with a long life with nothing he had hoped for in his entire memory.

One day, he thought he saw a shadow land far away. Ten minutes later, Pittoo entered his room, bearing a tray with Pit's lunch.

"Um... hey, Pit." he greeted, then set the tray down to avoid displaying the speechlessness he was struck with now.

"Hi Pittoo." he replied softly. A few moments passed in silence, neither moving at all.

"That's your lunch, Pit. I brought that in for you." Pittoo finally said, hoping to break the awkward silence. But Pit just shrugged apathetically.

"I'm not really hungry, thanks though."

Pittoo frowned and ghosted his fingers over his twin's arm.

"But you are. Look, you're kind of skinny."

Pit didn't respond, and didn't say anything to Pittoo again after that. The dark angel, completely at a loss, left before long. He didn't know how to cheer anyone up, especially in this case and couldn't take the atmosphere anymore.

A few days later, a catastrophe happened: the leaderless Underworld troops broke free and began to ravage the overworld. Normally, Palutena would send her trusty captain Pit.

But Pit was in no condition to do anything. His wings were useless and pained him, as did, well, everything else. He could walk, slowly and with support and a limp. His fighting days were over.

So Palutena called Pittoo and asked for his help. He agreed, since he was not averse to helping her when he felt her cause was a good one. With or without her, he was still fighting them so he figured he may as well have her assistance.

For the first few days, Pit hung around and Pittoo and Palutena both tried to spend some time with him every day. A few days later though, the workload was obviously too much to spare any energy. Pittoo nodded off one evening while Pit was trying to tell him about his day, boring as it was. And so Pit told both of them the next day that they should conserve their energy and not waste it on hearing about his day. He hardly did anything anyway.

He didn't like it though. He had just barely begun to lighten up, under the constant attention of his goddess and now occasional chats with his twin, but both were abruptly pulled out from under him. However, Pit was a social creature and couldn't hold up very well to isolation combined with the difficulty of accepting and living with his new physical limitations.

Within days, he couldn't even bring himself to get out of bed in the morning. It hurt to do so, he wasn't really hungry, and there wasn't anything he could do to make it worthwhile. In fact, his chats with Pittoo and Palutena were all he had to look forward to now. And he'd given them away in order to give them their much needed rest. His own troubles, boredom, seemed relatively small in comparison and the need of the countless human victims was greater than the need of a single, useless angel.

Pit grew tired as the days passed, drawing his curtains and only occasionally getting up for sustenance. He slept longer and longer, because being awake meant he could feel the weight of his growing loneliness, and the longer he thought about why he wasn't speaking to anyone the smaller and more pathetic he felt.

One day, an exhausted Palutena did come to see him. It was night, so she didn't question his being in bed and she couldn't see that he'd lost yet more weight. When she asked how he was, he managed to drag a smile onto his face and tell her he was fine. She smiled back and left shortly after, no energy left to detect Pit's lies.

The day came that for a moment, he thought about finishing the job. He was in pain. He had no future. The loneliness was too much, but he couldn't ask for help because nobody had anything to spare. Not for a worthless angel against thousands of humans, and the sanity of a goddess and an angel who could still do good for the world.

When he recognized exactly what he was contemplating, it terrified him enough that he instantly got out of bed, took a bath, and that evening he tried to talk with Pittoo.

He talked about anything, but the only responses were yawns and one word answers. Pit felt his twin's desire to be left alone, and all the energy he'd gained earlier, his body's attempt to make him care for it, was snuffed out as he felt the weight of disappointment drape over him. Pit could hardly make it back to his room, falling to his knees in the hallway and actually crawling back into his room. After he got the door closed, he just lay on the floor for an hour before literally dragging himself back to his bed, then curled tightly into a ball under the covers.

He didn't move for a full day. The heavy weight on his spirit lifted somewhat, and he went on as he had before he tried to talk to Pittoo for awhile. Then the day came that the last Underworld monster, created for nothing but destruction, was defeated.

Pit's eyes lit up, and he got out of bed again, this time driven by hope. Pittoo was done being sent out for awhile, and Pit was ready to have his friends back. He was excited, they would have time for him now!

He asked Pittoo and Palutena about the war, thinking they'd be interested in the topic, but they were sick of talking about it and declined to tell him about it. The fact was, though, Pit had nothing else to talk about because he was so confined. He tried to talk about what he liked to do before his accident, but an impatient Pittoo shut him down harshly, telling him bluntly that he didn't really want to hear about anything Pit wanted to say. It was a response generated simply because he was tired and irritable, but the rejection was heartbreaking for the physically and emotionally exhausted light angel.

Pit's breath hitched as he fought against crying, and when he had it under control he left. Pittoo looked at the limping figure turned away from him, and for a second wanted to call him back and explain himself. But before he could convince himself to, Pit was gone and Pittoo felt it was best to take some time for himself before talking to his twin again.

Later on, a feast was hosted in the temple, but Pit didn't even try to convince himself to go to it. Palutena and Pittoo, completely used to Pit's absence, didn't notice it now. While most of the inhabitants of Skyworld danced and ate, Pit was trying to beat away the waves of despair that threatened to push him under. He hardly noticed the world around him, and was therefore surprised when he found himself at the edge of Skyworld, still in darkness but silence reigning after the feast.

He didn't need to ask himself why he was there though. The beginning of the end of his life was brought on by a fall. It seemed fitting that a fall would finish it.

Once again, this thought brought forth a stab of fear, but it wasn't as strong and this itself terrified Pit. He started shaking as he looked into the blackness below him, and wavered forward a bit.

"No, no no no no no." he muttered through gritted teeth, backing away a few steps and tears beginning to spill as pure survival instinct fought back. But he was losing the battle and he knew it. He hoped, silently begged for someone, anyone, to come outside and talk sense into him. But nobody knew what he was going through, nobody knew they should keep a close eye on him.

Nobody knew how hard he was fighting himself for his own life.

Despite him muttering to himself, begging his body not to take him closer again he found himself with his toes less than an inch from the drop. He wept and told himself he didn't want to do it, but a part of himself that couldn't express itself through words but controlled his body responded by leaning forward a bit. Instinct was still clamoring, but was slowly being overcome. Most of himself had made its choice, and the rest of him was losing against it. It would be so easy, to tip over the edge and stop the pain. But at the same time it was terrifying, the falling and death. He was miserable, but also scared of the change of dying. He was scared to give up. Scared to keep going. Scared that he was here, about to make this choice. The fear froze him and he stood, staring at the blackness for a long time.

He stood there for an hour, two as he calmed himself and the fight mostly quelled. But then, as dawn came...

"Captain? What are you doing there? Lady Palutena said you weren't supposed to be at the edge like that."

Pit gasped, looked behind him. An archer centurion was walking his way. He'd been discovered, and his window of opportunity was closing fast. It was now or never.

Pushed into action like this, taking that step was surprisingly easy. No more conflict, no more internal fighting for just a moment. And that perfect clarity lasted until a particular shout pierced through the other, meaningless shouts Pit was hearing after he'd dropped. It was a cry of understanding, horror and desperation that all happened before the owner of the voice could put into words what had happened. What was happening.

Later, Pittoo thought what was worst about that moment was knowing that Pit was still there, alive, but there was no way to do anything. It was too late, the damage done with nothing to do but watch it play out.

Pit was unhappy at Pittoo's instant desperate scream, but there was nothing anyone could do and before long -

Pit closed his eyes as he reached the trees, and for a moment he was back in Skyworld. His connection allowed him a brief look through Pittoo's eyes, with his twin predictably running to the edge where Pit had last been seen. In his mind, he spoke to Pittoo, saying the only thing he could.

_I'm sorry_

Pittoo stopped when he heard Pit's voice. The seconds stretched out as he let out a soft breath and closed his eyes. It was then that he felt it.

Impact.

He fell to the ground and convulsed, and when he came to his senses again his mind was frozen. He heard his name, no, Pit's, being called and numbly stood, flapped his wings and followed after his counterpart. His ears roared, his body was acting on pure instinct with his mind broken. He didn't need to search, he was drawn right to where he needed to be.

Seeing the broken angel brought back sound and thoughts. He choked out Pit's name, not quite getting the full word out and dropped to the ground. He couldn't stop staring, looking for any movement but not finding it. Pittoo crawled over and reached out, hesitating right before he touched the body. That first contact broke down all barriers and he wrapped his arms around the angel, pulling him into his lap and putting both hands on either side of the still face. He leaned down a mere inch from Pit's face and urgently whispered his name, hoping to feel and hear his breath but knowing it wouldn't happen. He kept calling Pit's name, getting progressively louder as his attempts to wake his twin became more desperate. Soon, he could no longer look at the glassy, half open eyes. He closed his own eyes and pressed his forehead to Pit's already cold one. Pittoo unconsciously twined his fingers in Pit's hair, clenching and releasing his hands repeatedly while rocking slightly. He started to let out pathetic whines as he tried to hold back his growing despair.

The hair-grasping stopped and he pulled Pit close, still rocking. His soft cries progressed to wracking sobs as he clutched the dead angel tightly, unable to let go.

Eventually, he felt himself being beamed to Skyworld where Palutena got him to loosen his hold enough for her to see Pit's face. She looked away immediately, unable to contain her own shocked grief. It was bad enough the first time, but she was wise enough to know exactly what had happened and why, and that they could have prevented it. Partly, the problem was simply that the war came along right when Pit needed support the most, and took away their ability to give him what he needed. Then, he broke under the neglect.

Some time passed, with no sound but the gasping and occasional cries. Eventually, Palutena tried to take charge again. Pit was dead, and they had to start preparing for his funeral.

Pittoo didn't notice when she ordered a centurion strongarm to take the rapidly cooling body from him, but he sure as hell noticed when it obeyed her and tried to pry Pit's body from his grasp.

Five centurions ended up dead before she called them away from the snarling angel.

Palutena stood and watched Pittoo, then she knelt down and started whispering to him to let go. She began to pull the light angel away herself. Pittoo's red eyes made contact with hers, and he didn't resist.

A centurion took the body away.

Pittoo went to his room, mechanically washed the blood off. And fell asleep.

He dreamed, dreamed that he was walking through a place that he knew well, it held many interesting areas. Some had weapons, and fighting. Competition. Some had grass, and blue skies. There was even a small place where a single ice cream sundae sat on the ground, and Pittoo smiled at it. Much though he tried to deny his connection and similarities with his counterpart, he actually inherited quite a lot from him. A fondness for ice cream was one of those things. He saw a thunderstorm in a dead forest in another spot. Then a small, dark corner with a figure caught his eye.

He rushed to it, knowing who it was without even thinking about it. He knelt down and caught the hunched over shoulders in his hands, and shook violently.

"Pit! What the fuck, Pit! Why the hell would you do that? Why did you do that?"

His voice caught and he had to stop shouting for a moment.

"Why am I even seeing you? You're not real, this is a dream."

To his surprise, Pit looked up (his body was whole, unbroken and Pittoo was grateful for this) and shook his head.

"No. Our souls are connected. The only way to keep you alive was to join you. You don't need to do anything though, I'll just stay here. You don't need to do anything to stay alive."

"But- that means I can demand an explanation! Why?!"

Pit looked away, looking somewhat troubled.

"I couldn't do it anymore, Pittoo. I just couldn't."

"You could have asked for help, Pit! Why didn't you?"

Pit looked at his red eyed twin.

"I did. You brushed me off."

Pittoo gritted his teeth.

"That's not fucking fair, Pit. I was tired. If you'd been a little patient- I was planning to hang out with you today!"

"Why am I expected to have eternal patience?" Pit asked rhetorically, looking annoyed. "I was patient, for a long time. But it hurt, Pittoo. It hurt so much."

He looked down and his hair hung in front of his face. Pittoo's expression softened.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked. Pit looked up and smiled a little.

"Not nearly as much."

Pittoo let out a breath.

"That's good. I suppose the best I can hope for now is that you're not in pain. So what, you're just kind of permanently here- what the hell?"

Pittoo felt himself being abruptly pulled away and he opened his eyes to Palutena shaking him, panic on her face. He'd gone to sleep, then stayed that way until the next day. She was afraid he was being affected by Pit's death and decided to force him awake.

"Oh." was all he had to say when she explained herself. Then...

"I found Pit."

She paused.

"You... what?"

"Pit. He told me that to keep me alive, he had to join me. He's- I think his soul is with mine."

Palutena gasped, then put a hand on Pittoo's black hair and concentrated. She looked up in surprise and relief.

"You're right." she breathed. Then she backed away, the spark of happiness muted.

"But he's still dead. I can't bring him back, Pittoo. If there was a way to fix his body, I would have done it when he got hurt in the first place."

"Well, I think I can visit him. When I'm asleep, that is. He was lonely."

Palutena sighed regretfully. If he'd hung on a little longer, things would have improved for him. But she couldn't judge him for giving up either, not when he had nobody to help him for all that time, and when he needed them the most. All that could be done was to go through with the funeral, burning the body and scattering the ashes to the wind. Pittoo spent a lot of time asleep at first, visiting Pit at every opportunity, but regretfully cut back on this. However, something odd began to happen. He was dealing with some arguing humans one day when he heard, in his mind, a sarcastic and impatient comment about the stupidity of the argument. It was the sort of thing Pittoo might think, and in his voice, but it wasn't like his own thoughts. That night, Pit confirmed that he'd been able to watch and project his own opinion, although only for a short time.

Within a few months, Pit was always there in his skull, giving up commentary and eventually having full conversations with others through his twin.

All in all, neither thought this was a terrible arrangement. It wasn't the first choice, but Pittoo would rather have no privacy than lose Pit forever. And Pit was happy. He was sorry to have invaded like this, but was grateful that Pittoo welcomed him and he liked being alive, after a fashion.

What had happened was terrible, nobody denied it. Pit didn't like to think about that time, although eventually he shared with his twin the memories of the days before he ended his life. Just so that Pittoo would understand. When confronted with it, he had nothing to say beyond an apology for his behavior. What was there to say? Pit was also sorry, because he knew Pittoo hadn't deserved to have such a small action reap such consequences, and without Pit there to help him through it the whole thing might have damaged him more.

Eventually, although Pit didn't want to, Pittoo decided to leave Skyworld. He wasn't created to serve the goddess of Light like Pit had been, and wanted to go his own way. He was happy to help, when needed but it was time to go. Pit said his goodbyes to her and the pair spent years travelling, seeing the sights. They were never alone and sometimes went back to Skyworld to help out with a mission, give information that Palutena found useful, and to get to know the new angel Palutena had created to replace Pit. The little boy grew up not realizing until he was much older that Pittoo and his other personality, Pit, were a rather unusual phenomenon.

And when the youth became old enough to fly on his own, nobody took their eyes off him until his wings had strengthened enough for him to rely on. Nobody wanted to see another angel become crippled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sooo this is an alternate ending to the last chapter. Done mostly because I wanted to see the confrontation that would occur between the twins if Pit were rescued.**

* * *

There was shouting.

Although she hadn't noticed his state, Palutena was instantly alerted to the panic going on following Pit's jump. Dart was also instantly aware of what was happening to his twin, so when they met in the hallway outside the twins' rooms, both were on the same page.

With a quick gesture, Palutena teleported both herself and the dark angel to the doorway, and she unceremoniously pushed him towards it. He got the hint and jumped.

Luckily, Skyworld was high enough that falling took some time, and Dart had just passed through a door that was below Skyworld, and fortunately Pit as well. He began a controlled fall himself, as catching Pit at a standstill would probably hurt. His preparation paid off, and within a minute he had his brother slung over his shoulder. He tried to get a response out of the angel, but Pit said nothing.

All he could process was that he was no longer falling, and he didn't even hear Dart speaking to him. Nor did he feel that his arm dislocated from being caught, despite the pain it should have caused.

Being brought before his goddess and laid on the ground didn't help either, and before long he simply passed out.

When he woke up, he was back in his bed. His mind was still blank, but what had transpired early that morning came back to him soon enough.

He wanted to break down and cry. Whether from relief that he had been stopped, or disappointment that he was still alive he didn't know.

He remembered that Dart had been there, and of course he now saw familiar green hair in the blurry recollection of that morning. He wanted to groan. It was one thing feeling all those things himself, another thing entirely others finding out what lengths he had wanted to go to.

An acute discomfort wedged its way into Pit's awareness, although the source confused him. Beyond the pain he was accustomed to (and his arm in a sling), he was perfectly clean and comfortable. (great, somebody had given him a bath, too. Just what he needed, the knowledge that somebody had seen him naked)

Nothing physical was bothering him.

Instinct made him sharply turn his head, and he gasped to see a pair of red eyes burning into him.

Pit's eyelids lowered slightly and he opened his mouth to say something, anything to his brother. But words failed him. He wanted to tell Dart everything, and yet nothing at the same time. Where should he even start?

Before Pit figured that out, Dart eliminated the need.

"What was that, Pit?" he asked, a chill to his voice. His voice trembled slightly, but Pit knew instantly it was out of restrained anger. And for the first time in weeks, he just wanted to be alone.

"I-I just-"

"Why the hell would you do that? What were you thinking? How could you do that to us? I just get done mopping up Underworld troops, and before I've had a chance to catch my breath I have to go stop you from killing yourself! Couldn't you wait a few days, or something? Or better yet, just get over yourself and behave like a normal person. There was no reason for that! I don't get it, was this just a game to you, or-"

Pit felt the full force of Dart's rage, and with every sharp word shrank back a little more. He tried to cut into the furious diatribe, but Dart was so loud and Pit so drained that he couldn't do more than squeak ineffectively a few times.

Normally, he'd yell right back at Dart. Now, he simply couldn't handle his brother's anger.

Dart cut off abruptly when Pit, now curled tightly into a ball, started shaking and weeping. And he suddenly wasn't angry, but rather anxious and slightly frantic.

"Pit- I'm sorry, I just- what do you want me to do?!" he nearly wailed at the other angel. When Pit didn't show any signs of stopping, he stood from his chair and knelt on the bed, reaching out. He touched Pit's shoulder.

Pit jerked and looked up, gasping when he saw the change in his brother's demeanor. They stared at each other for several moments as Dart fumbled for words. Something had clearly gone very wrong with his twin, and he wanted to fix it. The yelling apparently hadn't helped, and that was his default.

"Listen, Pit- I guess I'm not really mad at you, I just- I don't know what to think. And I don't know what to say. You scared the shit out of me, you still are! I don't know how to deal with crying! I don't know how to deal with you, acting like- well, you freaking jumped off of Skyworld!"

Dart had been gesturing wildly, agitated but having to curb his normal 'fight' reaction to fear. His yelling now made sense to Pit, if he had indeed been scared. Dart liked to yell to mask fear.

"I don't know how to explain it to you." he replied in a soft voice that calmed the other somewhat. At least he'd had stopped crying. Dart could deal with a not-crying Pit.

"Well, are you gonna do it again?" he asked gruffly. But he didn't like the answer.

"I don't know." Pit sighed. Dart furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"Well then I won't give you the opportunity to." he concluded simply. Pit nodded tiredly. Dart watched him for several moments, taking in the unkempt hair, the dull eyes, the slightly protruding cheekbones. He realized that this morning would have been the ending of something that was a long time coming.

"What happened to you, Pit?"

The light angel blinked and looked up. He wasn't expecting such a calm question, but he could see Dart's genuine concern now. The yelling earlier was a reaction to Pit's desperate action. But this, this showed him that the darker angel did care about what was wrong. He just had to be pushed to admit it.

"Isn't it obvious? Look at me." he answered, twitching his ruined wings. But Dart shook his head.

"That can't be all. I know you better than that. You were doing ok when I got here."

"Bad timing, I suppose."

Dart was about to protest, but he thought about it first. He thought back to the past several weeks, where he only saw his brother maybe two or three times a week. Hindsight showed him how Pit restrained himself for his sake, so he could get some rest. And how tired he had looked after awhile.

He remembered the day before, when he watched a clearly devastated Pit leave his presence.

Dart wanted to hit himself.

But at the same time, he knew Pit was right. He had needed to focus his attention on his task, at the same time that Pit needed him. He supposed Palutena had her share of blame here, but the same was true of her. And at the same time, Pit was also right to give them their space. The problem was simply that there was not enough time, and it was at a critical point in Pit's recovery. And it was so easy to forget that, once his body was as healed as it was going to get, Pit still was recovering. Dart cringed slightly to think of what it would be like to lose his flight.

And for someone like Pit, being neglected would be hard enough, even though it wasn't out of malice. Under his circumstances, it broke him. Dart was really just lucky that Palutena was a quick thinker and had a door placed under Skyworld.

And now he was kind of mad, because although he didn't regret keeping his word to help Palutena, he hated what it had cost his brother.

Dart wouldn't make that mistake again. Palutena could find somebody else to do her work. He had too little in this world to risk losing the only person he knew for a fact mattered to him.

And Pit deserved everything he had to give.

"I'm not going to let that happen to you again." he finally said. Pit didn't say anything, and they both sat for a few minutes.

"So what's going to happen now?" Pit asked. Nothing was the same now, or rather his brother and his goddess both now knew exactly how things were. How dangerous his own mind had become. Although he had despaired at Dart's initial reaction, he now allowed himself to feel hope.

"You're going to eat lunch." Dart said firmly.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Yeah, but we've talked enough for today. I can't handle anymore."

Dart suddenly frowned at Pit, an unsure look on his face.

"Unless... I guess I shouldn't say that. Do you really want to talk more about what happened?"

Pit shook his head. He was ok with forgetting it for now.

Palutena visited later, and although she wanted to try to smooth things over with Pit, she held herself back. She knew Dart had confronted him, and had an idea how the scene went. Pit needed some time before having to rehash it with her, so she restricted her role to showering him with the love and affection he wanted and needed.

It would be days until Pit began to voluntarily talk, but from that first night Dart decided not to cut corners and slept right in the same bed as Pit. The light angel couldn't even roll over without alerting his twin, who would wake instantly and reach out to make sure Pit was still there and breathing.


	4. Chapter 4

**And, here's a chapter for Pittoo, unconnected to the previous ones. Enjoy.**

* * *

"C'moooon Pittoo! It'll be fun!" Pit pleaded, practically hanging off of his twin. Hades had been defeated the day before, and Palutena had insisted on inviting the dark angel to a party. And of course, Pit had taken the opportunity to beg him to stay in Skyworld.

Much though he wanted to deny it, there was something about Pit being the first person to genuinely _want_ him that drew him to the light angel. Palutena and Viridi were nice enough to him, but Pit had such an earnest desire for not only his company, but also his well-being.

It made him want the same for Pit. So he decided to try it out, after he gave a huge sigh accompanied by a pointed look at Pit's arms, which were wrapped tightly around him. Pit grinned, then gave him a squeeze before letting him go.

He found life in Skyworld to be pleasant. Pit was so happy to have him around, and Palutena was polite to him and interested in him. And he got to keep an eye on his counterpart.

Also, ice cream. A lot of ice cream. He denied his attraction to the dessert when Pit pressed it on him, trying to maintain his trademark dark and serious demeanor. But Palutena saw how the cartons vanished and gave him knowing smiles.

All in all, it was good.

Until.

* * *

"Pit, no. We've been sparring for hours, I don't want to go play tag."

Pit sighed.

"Well then, what do you want to do? I'm getting bored." he complained, fidgeting. Pittoo rolled his eyes.

"How about something that doesn't involve running all over Skyworld, you hyperactive dolt." he said, not unkindly.

A few months in, Pittoo was annoyed at Pit's energy. He wanted to do so much with the dark angel, and he was finding it to be rather tiring. He wanted to sleep in, maybe spend some time quietly reading. Pit, however, insisted on dragging him along to picnics and even camping trips, with long hikes. He barely kept up with Pit, and wondered at his enthusiastic energy. To be sure, he had no problem with Pit. Just the activities he constantly wanted to be involved in.

* * *

"I think we ought to organize a huge dodgeball game with the centurions. It'd be good for safely having them practice avoiding fire, and it's fun!" Pit suggested one day.

"… you can go do that. I think I should stay in bed."

Pit stared at him, and Pittoo elaborated.

"I think I'm coming down with something. I'd really just like to stay in bed today, Pit."

A few weeks later, Pittoo had decided that he must be sick. Maybe Pit's constant activity had physically worn him down? Who knew. He did finally insist that Pit slow down, because he couldn't fake it anymore. He was _tired_. Pit predictably became overly worried and tried to do everything for him, constantly asking if there was anything he needed. It was endearing, and Pittoo had to smile at the genuine concern. He did refuse most of Pit's offers, but appreciated the gesture.

* * *

"Pittoo, I know you want to handle everything yourself but maybe I can help. You've been feeling tired for awhile, and I'm worried about you." the goddess said, looking at the bundled up angel.

Pittoo groaned. It was true that he was feeling worse, not better with rest. And he had no idea why.

Eventually, he let Palutena look him over. He was spending more and more time in bed, with longer periods of sleep. She and Pit were becoming worried. Obviously, whatever was wrong with him wasn't contagious, but in a way that was scarier. He was getting worse. It hadn't been obvious at first, but this angel was very different from the one who'd come through the mirror, or even the one who accepted Pit's offer to stay here. She'd accepted that he just wasn't as energetic as his original at first, because she herself found Pit's antics to be exhausting at times. But this went beyond simply being a calmer personality, and she got a feeling of foreboding when she examined him. She had no answers.

Pittoo developed a nasty suspicion though, that he kept to himself.

Perhaps he hadn't been created to last. Not only was he a knockoff of Pit, but he was a _cheap_ knockoff. He suspected this because he felt it in his bones. His main complaint was being tired, and it went deep. He'd used up all his life, and was just fading now.

* * *

"Hey Pittoo. Do you want me to help you to the kitchen, or do you want me to bring you dinner here?" Pit asked softly. Sometimes, the dark angel wanted to get out of bed and go someplace other than his room, but he couldn't get back there because he was so fatigued. So Pit frequently offered to help him, although he was opting for the 'meals in bed' option more often lately.

That he was dying had become apparent. Palutena was at a loss when it came to Pittoo. She wanted very much to heal him, but nothing was working. Pit, meanwhile, lost his own energy although it was out of dealing with Pittoo rather than having an ailment himself. His assistance had become a necessity for just about everything, and while Pit was happy to offer, he desperately wanted Pittoo to be able to get up and do things for himself again.

* * *

Pit had just left the room after Pittoo insisted that he leave. The lighter twin had wanted to sleep with him, so that if he needed something during the night Pittoo wouldn't have to work hard to get his attention. But Pittoo needed to be alone.

Actually, what he needed was Pit's support. But he was determined to hide the truth about his condition, in order to spare Pit for a little longer. Pit would be brokenhearted when he found out, and Pittoo didn't know if he could handle Pit's grief in addition to his growing fears and anxiety.

He curled up in his bed, shaking as the knowledge of his own impending death filled his mind again. He didn't want to die, it wasn't fair! And dying hurt, although he knew he hadn't gotten to the worst of it yet. He was afraid, so afraid. Pittoo wished, at times like this, that Pit knew what he was going through because it was so difficult to handle on his own. And then he felt somewhat embarrassed and weak that he wanted to be held so much, wanted comfort, but he couldn't help it. And every day he felt his end, indistinct in the future, become a little clearer as it drew closer.

* * *

Viridi looked at the fitfully sleeping angel with a look of sadness.

"I don't know how to tell you this," she murmured, not wanting to alert Pittoo. "He's dying, and I don't think there is any way to heal him. This isn't an illness, he's at the end of the line."

She could see what Palutena could not, that Pittoo's body was simply poorly constructed. He'd been doomed from the moment he broke through the mirror to a short life and an early death. There was nothing to be done but keep him comfortable until his body finally gave out.

"It won't be long. Maybe a couple weeks, maybe even only a few days." she finished, fighting back tears. Palutena turned away in order to control her own emotions when a weak voice spoke.

"Finally figured it out, have you?" Pittoo said softly, too exhausted to speak any louder. Both goddesses gasped, and he managed to smirk a little, then relaxed.

"I've felt it for awhile. I'm tired to my core. I didn't say anything because if there was anything to stop it, you would have tried it a long time ago and I didn't want to… didn't want to…"

Palutena knelt next to the bed and put her hand on his.

"Pit." was all she said. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"I wanted to put this off as long as possible. Stifling his hope seemed criminal. But I guess I can't really pretend anymore, can I?"

"You should have said something to me, at least. Keeping something like that to yourself probably made it worse for you." Palutena scolded, but without any real rebuke to her voice. He sighed, she was entirely correct. But still, he'd done it for Pit.

* * *

"…and Viridi says… that it won't be long now." Palutena finished breaking the news. Pittoo held his breath, hoping Pit wouldn't take it too hard. The light angel leaned around his goddess to look at his twin, and Pittoo unconsciously reached for him. Now that Pit knew, Pittoo allowed himself to feel the fear that he'd been pushing back. His impending death terrified him, but he'd been ignoring it in order to keep fooling Pit. Now he needed his brother, and he silently asked for him.

Pit ran away.

Palutena whipped her head back and forth a few times, wanting to comfort Pit but at the same time seeing Pittoo's shocked and devastated face. She chose to stay, murmuring reassuring things to Pittoo. He reluctantly accepted the attention, but was still unhappy that it wasn't his twin staying with him.

Pit kept running, finally ending up in a shed some distance from the temple. He screamed. Banged his head against the wall. Threw his entire body against the wall, wailing out his anguish with each impact. Then he picked up a trowel (the shed had tools for Palutena's vegetable garden) and smashed the handle into his hand and arm several times, finally stopping when he heard and felt an agonizing crack in his hand.

He cradled his bruised arm and broken hand and sank, crying softly, to the floor. Everything hurt, his chest throbbed and his throat burned. His muscles were aching from spastically flexing as he tried to escape his internal pain.

When he tired himself out, he remembered Pittoo's face. And he felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. Here he was, running and trying to escape his own pain when Pittoo couldn't, and had been dealing with it alone for so long. He had asked for Pit's help, and Pit had refused him.

Pit returned, determined to see this through to the end with as much strength as he could muster. Pittoo needed him. He could deal with his own feelings once he'd seen Pittoo through his ordeal.

Pittoo had been visibly unhappy, but couldn't help but smile with relief when he saw his twin.

"I'm sorry, Pittoo. I shouldn't have run off like that. But I'm back now, and I won't ever leave you again." Pit promised, giving him a watery smile. He couldn't hide that he'd been crying now, but he wouldn't let Pittoo see that again. Palutena gathered the light angel in her arms and planted a kiss on the top of his head. He let go of himself for a moment to share the moment, but got himself back under control in order to take care of his brother.

* * *

"What do you think it's like to die?" Pittoo asked the next day. Pit felt a pang at the question. He knew instinctively that he should give a pleasant answer, that Pittoo needed reassurance.

"I think it's probably like falling asleep. Souls aren't really awake, are they? It'll be like going to bed after a long day."

The dark angel closed his eyes and nodded. He didn't question it, simply wanting to believe it would be that easy and nice.

* * *

He wanted the light on all the time, now.

"I'm afraid it will be dark when I'm dead. I want all the light I can get now." he explained. Pit obliged, seeing how his eyes glazed over with fear when the sun began to set. It made it more difficult for him to sleep, but he didn't care. It made Pittoo feel better.

* * *

"I don't want to be alone forever."

The idea of dying consisting of merely falling asleep was comforting to Pittoo, but the idea of an eternity of oblivion was terrifying. Part of it was the concept of 'forever'. By its very nature, it was impossible for him to wrap his head around. And oblivion meant he would be alone- forever. Pit countered this by reiterating that he would never leave Pittoo.

"Thanks, Pit." he said with a grateful smile. It was hard to argue any logic against this statement when Pit would just repeat the same thing. That he would hang onto Pittoo 'somehow'. And he preferred it that way, Pit's confidence that he could.

* * *

Pit started to lend his warmth at night, as Pittoo's failing body was unable to keep warm. This doubled as another comforting gesture, being tightly held helped to keep the terror that randomly struck him at bay. When this happened, Pittoo would cling to the light angel and Pit would tighten his hold. He still felt some amount of shame that he, the independent Dark Pit, had been reduced to this. He would have been fine with a quick death in battle, but something about watching it slowly come for him brought out this scared side. The one he didn't know existed until now.

He inhaled the scent of Pit's feathers, and it calmed him.

* * *

"Pit. It's almost over."

Pittoo had been silent for most of the day, not because he was ignoring Pit but because he was so worn down. When he had awakened that day, something felt different. He knew he was out of time. He didn't say anything until late at night, for the same reason he didn't tell Pit he was dying in the first place: he couldn't bear Pit's renewed grief. But he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye, and now was his last chance. He could feel his soul tugging away, and he wanted so much to just close his eyes.

Pit looked over at Pittoo's face when he made this announcement, trying to read his expression.

"Why do you say that? You can't know that." he protested. But Pittoo just smiled at him, and his heart sank.

"I've been feeling it all day, Pit." he said softly.

"No, Pittoo. Please stay a little longer."

Pittoo let out a breath and shook his head slightly.

"I don't think I can, Pit."

"P-Pittoo…"

The dark angel smiled again.

"It's ok, Pit. I think I'm ready. I'm so tired…" he sighed, his eyelids drooping. Pit gasped as he shook the dark angel.

"Don't go, Pittoo! Wake up!" he cried out, the tears that he'd held back the past few days finally breaking free.

"Sorry I gave you such a short notice." Pittoo whispered. Pit scrambled onto the bed and pulled him against his chest. He felt the dark angel smile contentedly.

"Thank you, Pit. For everything. Pass that on to Palutena too, will you?" he murmured.

"I'm sorry, Pittoo." Pit said, still crying.

"Don't be. If you hadn't taken me in, I would have died cold and alone on the earth. I would have died before now, and you wouldn't have known. So don't be sorry, alright?"

"But you're dying! It's no fair! You hardly got any time at all, and we spent a lot of it fighting! It's just not right, Pittoo."

"I'm happy, Pit."

"I'm not."

Several seconds passed, and Pit wondered if something was wrong. Of course everything was wrong, but had Pittoo…?

"You're going to be fine." came a barely audible whisper. Pit breathed a sigh of relief, Pittoo was still here. He tightened his hold a little more.

"I'm happy you decided to live here, Pittoo."

"So am I."

A small sigh.

"I'm sleepy." he murmured, and his head curled into Pit slightly. And indeed, he was asleep. He was unaware when Pit began to grip his hair and hot tears soaked into his scalp. He didn't move again, and a little later, his soul slipped away.

Palutena wasn't watching the twins, but she could feel every corner of her realm, and she knew every pinprick of life on it. She felt Pittoo's slip away.

She put a hand on her chest and lowered her head in sorrow. She would have prayed for his soul, but she had suspected that it would never leave Pit and she could even now sense that she was correct. The shard of soul, that had been all that sustained Pittoo this whole time, had been pulled into the original. She could at least give Pit this little bit of comfort. She called up an image of the room where he and Pittoo had been staying, cringing at the state she knew she'd find Pit in.

She saw that Pit was shaking with grief, gripping his twin tightly. The dark angel had an untroubled smile on his face, which Palutena couldn't help but mirror through her tears. She knew without a doubt that he was as happy as possible to the end. It was all they could ask for.

* * *

**Poor Pit, this is as much torture for him as Pittoo. I would have updated stuff yesterday, but as you can see from this series death and all that has been on my mind. Yesterday was RedNemi's 18th birthday, or would have been. I had no idea what to do with yesterday. But anyway, I'm doing multiple updates so this isn't all.**


	5. Chapter 5

Pit had gotten himself some new wings.

As a reward for stopping Hades, Zeus had fixed his wings- and now he could go wherever he wanted. And he took full advantage of this. None was happier than his goddess, who had always wanted Pit to be able to fly and she cheered for him and granted him a few days to test his flight out. He needed a break from fighting anyway.

Of course, he found Pittoo and showed him, expecting him to be happy. And some part of him was, but jealousy made up a large part of how he felt and he only bitterly extended congratulations. Pit was too happy to notice, and when he was done visiting with his twin he left with a flourish.

Pit's enthusiasm didn't fade, but Palutena's slowly did. It began when Pit flew himself to a forest that Viridi had complained was getting torn up by monsters.

He had flown a lot, enough that by now he could dodge attacks with ease while still making it to the forest in good time. Palutena sat back, and felt… well, obsolete.

"Pit, look out for that monoeye! It's about to shoot!"

Pit paused, confused and looked around him.

"There's another one?"

In looking for it, he stood still too long and got hit- she had been referring to one that he already knew the location of, and had confused him into thinking there was another. What happened quickly became apparent.

"Oh, I'm sorry Pit… I just thought you'd be too distracted by concentrating on flying so you might need help with fighting…"

"Don't worry about me, Lady Palutena! I've had lots of practice flying and I can fight at the same time pretty well too. You don't need to help me anymore."

Still though…

"They're trying to surround you, Pit! The only way you can go is…" She trailed off as he headed up, the only direction available to him.

"I saw them. I can handle myself now that I can fly on my own. Isn't it awesome? Look!"

He sent off several arrows, having moved in such a way as to get the monsters to group together, instead of all around him.

"Am I a strategist or what?!" he crowed, feeling smug that he had defeated them all by himself, and using his newfound flight to give himself the advantage. Palutena gave a bit of a laugh.

"That you are, Pit. Looks like you don't need me anymore, that's for sure."

"Aw, thanks Lady Palutena! That's not true though, I need you to keep my spirits up! And how else would I get snacks in the middle of battle? And if I get really hurt, you will have to beam me back."

Despite herself, she smiled. Pit always knew how to make anyone feel better, and while it wasn't ideal he was so instantly certain that he still needed her that it mollified her, for now.

"Speaking of snacks, how about some donuts?"

Pit cheered at the suggestion, and she laughingly sent some his way.

"Donuts, you're my new best friend! Lady Palutena, I ate all my new friends. Can you send some more?"

Normally, she wouldn't have but she gave him more this time. Even as she did so, she heard a nasty little voice in the back of her head telling her she was overcompensating.

She ignored it, and congratulated Pit on his well-executed solo mission when he flew himself home.

Pit would track down Pittoo at least once a week to talk, and although he didn't show off his wings anymore, Pittoo still got more and more surly at the sight of the large, functioning wings. It troubled Pit, as did his brother's still flightless wings, and he did wrack his brain for ways to get him his flight back. But for the time being, nothing occurred to him and he drew as little attention to his wings as possible when he visited Pittoo.

Still, the only thing Pittoo ever saw when Pit visited was his wings, and he got more and more pissed every time Pit showed up. He felt even worse when his mind would momentarily clear, and he knew there was no reason to treat Pit that way. He couldn't stop himself though, and behaved as if he never wanted to see his twin again.

To Pit's dismay, he found himself speaking to Palutena less and less too. In response, he acted more clingy in order to get attention, but… increasingly she remained distant, handing out his tasks in the mornings and dismissing him from her presence once he reported back. She even stopped watching on his missions, because although he constantly shouted about how he was fighting for her glory, she felt a lot more like he was showing her up. Especially when he performed even better than he ever had with her guidance. It helped him that he could add flying to his ground fighting routine.

The last time she watched, she tried to help by blasting some komaytos herself. She ended up nearly hitting Pit.

"Even though you tried to fry me with that laser, the mission still went really well Lady Palutena! I think we should have cake!" Pit suggested when he got home. She forced a smile, and waved her hand. A cake appeared on a table.

"Of course this calls for celebration, but I cannot join you this time. I have work to do, so you'll have to enjoy this on your own." she began to leave the room.

"But you always have cake with me, why don't you just stay for one slice?" Pit asked, crestfallen.

"I am a goddess, Pit. I have an entire realm to look after. I'm sure you don't need me to enjoy that cake. And there'll be more for you as well."

She beamed herself away before Pit could protest again, and Pit was left feeling like something was terribly wrong. He shook it off though, and went to her bright and early the next day for his tasks.

She listed a few things she wanted done, but finished with a comment that reminded Pit of the day before.

"I won't be watching you this time, Pit. You've proven yourself capable of running missions on your own, so I will attend to my other tasks."

Pit panicked.

"But Lady Palutena, you always watch over me on missions! What if I need you?"

She raised one eyebrow as she looked sternly at him.

"Are you telling me you cannot serve me properly? That you cannot perform the tasks I have given you?"

"No, no! Not at all Lady Palutena!" he yelped, saluting her.

"Go then." she ordered curtly, and he left as quickly as he could. Later, he returned to report on his successes with only minor injuries and a handful of killed centurions.

"You can bring them back, right Lady Palutena?" he asked anxiously after telling her about his defeated men. Her staff glowed for a moment.

"I have taken care of it. Is there anything else to report?"

The question hung in the air for a second. It sounded rather dismissive, and Pit was used to her tending to his injuries, no matter how small.

"Well, I'm a bit injured."

"Do you need help getting to a hot spring? I'll call a centurion if you need help."

"But Lady Palutena, you always look over my injuries yourself! Aren't you going to now?"

She raised one eyebrow and looked down at him.

"A hot spring is sufficient to heal you right now, and I have more important matters to look after than your skinned knees. Be sure to properly look after yourself. If you don't need help getting there, then you are dismissed."

Pit opened his mouth to protest, but the look on her face said the discussion was over.

"Yes, Lady Palutena."

The next day, she was equally distant and Pit decided to leave her alone for a bit. He decided to visit Pittoo instead, but… well, it wasn't much of a visit. Pittoo didn't talk much, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he wanted Pit to leave. Pit took the hint when Pittoo pushed him into a ditch.

The next day, he tried to hang out with Viridi. She was nice to him, but was too busy rebuilding her domain to pay him much attention. Furthermore, she delivered her usual harsh lines that normally, he'd just punt back at her but right now just added to his unhappiness. He'd never been so neglected in his life, and didn't know what to do about it, or indeed what he had done to cause it. Everyone hated him, and he didn't understand it.

One morning, he couldn't bear it anymore.

He listened to his instructions, miserable as ever, then decided to seek comfort with his goddess as he always had. He rushed to her unexpectedly and threw his arms around her middle, shaking a bit.

Palutena's face hardened.

The next thing he knew, a blinding light flung him away from her and he landed harshly on the floor.

"Do not approach me without my permission. I didn't think I'd have to tell you that. The penalty will be much harsher if you repeat that. Do I make myself clear?"

Her gaze bore into him as he sat in a miserable pile on the floor, breathing hard. He didn't answer.

"Pit. Do you understand me?" she asked softly, but with a steely edge to her voice. It commanded obedience. Pit looked up, his eyes puffy and wet.

"Y-yes, Lady Palutena." he managed to choke out.

"You have my leave to go."

Pit pulled himself to his feet and ran from the room, going straight to the edge of Skyworld to leave. He barely noticed what he was doing until he got to the ground and caught sight of his brother, fighting the same monsters he was. Protective instinct kicked in, and he ran to help Pittoo.

"Are you ok, Pittoo?" he asked, beating a komayto off of him. Pittoo brushed himself off and scowled, ignoring Pit. He gritted his teeth when Pit flapped his wings, propelling himself into the air several feet to divebomb a reaper. He knew Pit wasn't showing off, but…

Pittoo took out his frustration by beating up a few more komaytos.

Once the battle was finished, Pit trotted over to Pittoo in hopes that the shared battle would have put him in a better mood.

"You did really great there Pittoo, we sure do make a great team." he enthused, putting up his hand for a high five.

But Pittoo just snarled and turned to leave.

"Pittoo, what's wrong with you? Why are you so upset?" Pit asked, desperate to keep him around.

"I can't fly and you can, that's what!" he shouted back, still stalking off. Pit rushed in front of him and cut him off.

"But I can't help that, Pittoo. I still want to hang out. What's wrong with that?" he pleaded.

"Every time I look at you, I'm reminded that once, I could fly. And now, I can't. I'm sure you can understand why I might be bitter." Pittoo spat out. Pit faltered, remembering the reason his brother couldn't fly.

"Oh yeah, you… gave up your flight for me. I guess it isn't really fair that you did that, and I am the only one who was rewarded. But still, we can be friends right? We were before that!"

Pittoo didn't respond, just pushed Pit harshly aside and walking on. Pit caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, but was suddenly seeing stars. Pittoo had knocked him into a tree, hard.

Pit felt the full force of this rejection and sank to the ground, with his back to the tree. At first he felt empty, but shortly began to cry quietly. He knew what had gone wrong now; he had a choice, and it was a terrible one: His friends, or his wings. Once he had gotten his wings, suddenly nobody liked him anymore.

Or at least, that was all his muddled mind could come up with. It didn't feel quite right to him, but he had to do something. This, at least was something he could change. As far as he was concerned, flying was worthless without someone to share it with.

Pit shakingly separated his bow and pulled a wing in front of him, tears stopped as he focused on his new task.

The blade sliced almost effortlessly through his flight feathers, sending the ends fluttering in a red and white cloud to the ground. It didn't take long for blood to cover his blades and hands, for he cut the largest feathers very short and they bled freely from the shaft. He clipped more and more feathers, making his wing ache horribly. When he was done with the first, he started on the other.

Meanwhile, the ache and cut feathers echoed in Pittoo's wings, and it didn't take him long to realize that this was a sensation originating from Pit. Jealousy and anger was replaced with the sense that something was terribly wrong, and he hurriedly retraced his steps.

He blanked when he saw Pit, sitting on the ground and covered in blood. Then he took in all the details, the blood, the feathers, the knife, and realized with shock what was happening.

"What are you doing?!"

He tackled Pit, yanking the blade from his hand and tossing it away. It wasn't much of a challenge, and the reason why was obvious: Pit's flight feathers were all bleeding heavily.

"Pit, what have you done?! Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"

Pittoo was pinning him down and shouting, but Pit had only one answer. He smiled a little.

"It worked…"

"It… what worked? Pit?...Nevermind, call Palutena."

Of course, Pit didn't so Pittoo tried to.

"Palutena!" he snapped, noticing belatedly how odd it was that Pit had been able to do all this while still connected to her.

He got no response.

He swore, then roughly yanked Pit to his feet. A few minutes of pulling Pit along behind him later, he found Viridi's troops, whom he had seen earlier.

"Hey you guys, I need to contact Viridi."

"Pittoo, what a surprise. I haven't heard from you since… actually, since Hades was defeated. But I assume you need something, you don't sound very conversational. Oh, hi there Pit."

Viridi responded to him, having heard the demand. She was overseeing this attack, and so was aware when Pittoo came into contact with her troops.

"Yeah, Pit needs help, quickly!"

It was urgent sounding enough that she didn't ask questions, just beamed them to her.

"Woah, what happened to you?"

She approached them, alarmed at the blood. Pittoo wordlessly pulled out one of Pit's clipped wings and showed her. Pit winced and squeaked at the movement. She was gentle and examined it for a second before understanding, if not what _had_ happened what _needed_ to happen. Her hands glowed softly and the blood stemmed in all the cut feathers on that wing.

"He did the other wing too, you need to stop that one bleeding as well."

She ignored Pittoo's ordering tone, instead looking to Pit's other wing and absorbing the wording of the first part.

"Pit, you did this?" she asked, addressing the injured angel once she was done. Pit just looked confused. Pittoo nodded curtly, answering for him as he now pushed Pit into a nearby chair.

"I asked what he was doing, and he just said 'it worked'."

Viridi was silent for a few seconds.

"Pit?" she finally asked, hoping Pit was alert enough to answer. He seemed rather in shock. He responded though.

"Nobody wanted me… not once I could fly. So I cut my feathers… and Pittoo came back to me."

He smiled and closed his eyes, leaning back against the chair and nearly falling off. Viridi and Pittoo both caught him and held him up.

Pittoo, meanwhile looked like he'd been hit.

"You- you clipped your wings, and nearly killed yourself- to bring me back." he stated, feeling worse with each word. He replayed his most recent encounters with Pit in his mind, but he'd already known at the time that he was treating Pit like crap. He just never thought it would affect Pit like this, and while feeling bad he was also confused.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself, I just… didn't know they'd bleed like that."

Pit now just looked tired, his eyelids drooping.

"But, that can't be all. What about- oh- Palutena didn't answer when I called her using your laurels."

Pit glanced up at his twin, looking sad. Pittoo and Viridi looked at one another.

"Pittoo, why don't you go settle him into a guest room- one of my nutskis will show you where- and I'll go have a little chat with Palutena. I think Pit will be having an extended stay here, for the time being."

Pittoo nodded and slowly coaxed his brother to his feet, steadying him as they slowly followed the nutski.

Viridi watched them go, satisfied that she'd done all she needed to for the moment for Pit. Then a swirl of leaves took her away, and deposited her right in Palutena's throne room.

"Palutena!" she called with a thump of her staff. The goddess looked up, startled.

"Viridi! What are you doing here? Couldn't you knock?" she asked, an irritated note to her voice.

"We need to talk about your management style."

Palutena frowned, she had no clue what Viridi could be talking about and she said as much. Viridi responded with an annoyed eye roll.

"First, I'm keeping Pit for the time being. He's at my temple, being treated. He's pretty badly hurt."

At the mention of Pit, Palutena first looked annoyed. Then at the mention of him being hurt, her expression softened slightly.

"He's hurt? How? And how does that figure into my management, of course he's going to get hurt sometimes. He doesn't need to stay with you, we can treat him here."

"I'm going to be blunt. He cut all of his flight feathers with his bow because he thinks if he can't fly, he'll get his friends back."

Palutena fell back into her seat after a moment of staring into space.

"He cut… is he alright?" she finally asked, her voice somewhat choked.

Viridi waved her hand a bit.

"Of course. Pittoo found him, and brought the situation to my attention. They're both back at my temple. His wings will heal, but his heart is still broken. And that," she pointed accusatorily, "is all on you, Palutena. I can guess well enough what happened, but I want to hear it from you."

Palutena flinched as if Viridi had hit her instead of just pointing.

"I, um… oh, Viridi, I treated him as if I didn't care for him. Like he was interchangeable, and it didn't matter if he was there or not. He just… we would go on missions, and I'd just be watching. He could do it all on his own, and if I tried to help I made things worse. I've never felt so… useless. And it hurt. So I tried to block him out, to pretend I didn't need him. I can't believe… oh, of course I can. Even if he doesn't need me to fly, he's still so dependent… Viridi, what have I done?"

Viridi listened to the monologue without comment; at the end, she rolled her eyes.

"Pit gave you his undying love and loyalty. You crushed it under your heel. As I already mentioned, he's staying with me for the moment. You're not coming over until he wants to see you. I don't care if you want to visit earlier. You've done enough damage."

Palutena nodded her head slowly, her eyes downcast.

"Of course. Will you please tell him that I'm sorry and… well, I guess that's all for now. Anything else would be manipulative of me."

"I suppose I can do that. But it will take more than that. He still thinks he had to choose between you and his wings. Pittoo didn't help, but you ought to know better."

"I know. I need to go… think. Thank you for caring for him when I wouldn't. I will wait for you to contact me."

Viridi looked mollified, and softened her demeanor.

"I will encourage him to give you another chance, I think. I won't promise anything, but Pit's a strong kid. I think he'll bounce back. Just make sure you're worth the effort."

She left in a swirl of leaves and petals.

It took some time to convince Pit that he was not to blame for what had happened, and his forgiveness for Palutena came more slowly than the rest. She'd always been perfect to his eyes, and accepting that she was not was a crushing disappointment for him.

* * *

**Before anyone asks, yes I've read Drkvtx's Flight of the Angel. I can't say it had no influence on this at all, but more than that the similarities are an unfortunate necessity for the situation. My goal was Pit clipping his wings, because angst. Leave me alone, I like angst. There isn't a whole lot that would get Pit there, but having everyone get mad at him due to his wings would do it. For each Pittoo and Palutena, FotA hit the nail on the head for why they would get mad at him. Probably the only reasons, actually.**

**I've tried to make this as different as possible, because I don't like the thought of having a carbon copy. But there's only so many things I can do to make it different while keeping the story intact and making sense.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A random bit, connecting again to the story where Pit jumped off Skyworld. This would be a story in the version where he died from it. Dart has a few odd dreams about his dead twin. I did not notice until I wrote the whole thing that the original story had Dark Pit's name as the regular old Pittoo, not my name for him. So although they are connected, Pittoo goes from being called Pittoo to being called Dart.  
**

* * *

Dart was standing around, laughing and chatting with several people whom he considered to be closest to him. Palutena, Viridi and Pit. Nothing out of the ordinary, he was in the temple in Skyworld.

Yet something was terribly, terribly wrong.

This was a certainty in the back of his mind, not affecting his conversation with his companions. But still hovering, demanding that he figure out what it was. Something was not right in this situation, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

He and Pit wandered away from the others, moods lighthearted and joking. They wandered up the stairs to a balcony and kept talking about things that Dart forgot the moment he said them. After awhile, he disengaged from the conversation with his twin and walked back down, leaving Pit at the balcony.

As his foot left the last stair, it hit him. A terrible realization, everything darkened around him as the knowledge struck him.

Pit wasn't alive. He was dead, very dead. Dart had been to the funeral, seen the body. Felt how cold it was.

He didn't know how Pit had come to be here now. He didn't know if Pit was resurrected, or if he'd gone back in time. Or if this was a ghost. But once he remembered that suicide was looming near his twin, his only thought was of stopping it. Through any means, he had to stop it. Now.

Dart turned around and started running back up to where he left Pit, with an oddly specific fear that Pit would jump off the balcony. He was left alone now to do it, and Dart could only hope that he got back up in time to stop it.

He had to hurry, was hurrying, but in his haste he kept tripping on the stairs and was getting desperately frustrated. But then, halfway up the stairs he woke up.

_He woke up_.

In a way, it was a relief. No hurrying would do anything. So even if he'd ended up failing in the dream, it wouldn't have mattered. But dreaming of his lost brother had brought back the pain his death had brought, in addition to the realization that it was the first dream he'd had of Pit. Dart replayed the nicer parts of the dream, remembering how bright his twin's eyes had been. It was like things had been before, Pit happy and content. Laughing over some stupid joke.

…He had to stop thinking about it. It still hurt too much, so he rolled over and tried to sleep. He eventually did, but Pit's smile kept returning to him in his dreams, so often and identically that Pit and his smile turned into a photo. Dart tore it up and threw away in a rage because it wasn't the real thing. Then he woke up again and felt immense guilt that even in a dream, he'd throw away anything that had to do with Pit. Nothing made sense.

A few weeks later Pit had a presence in another dream in which Dart was having a normal day, walking around the temple. It didn't look normal at all, but he didn't notice this. He found himself in a dark room, and there was a folder full of papers. He opened it and they fell out, each one decorated with his dead brother's handwriting.

Some seemed to be journal entries, some scraps of stories. Neither of which he was aware of Pit ever having written, but he didn't question it. Then one stood out, one which riveted his attention and froze him with agony that pierced his chest with no warning. He was fine one second, choking back grief the next.

On this piece of paper, written the most recently of all (he somehow knew), were the words "I'm coming home soon."

He didn't know if Pit wrote them before his suicide, and meant that 'home' was some sort of afterlife. If it was this, then the pain came from reliving what had happened and regretting what had led to it, his ignorance and Pit's unbearable depression.

If Pit had somehow written this after his death, then it might mean that he was trying to return to Dart and Palutena. In this case, he was gasping out his grief because he missed Pit, wanted so badly for it to be true, but knew with a hard certainty that he would never see his brother again. The suggestion that what he most desired might happen, the instant of hope, and the crushing disappointment at the return of his senses. There was also the suggestion that Pit regretted his death and wanted to return, but couldn't. Pit wasn't coming home, ever again.

Both possibilities were terrible, and despite his care to never cry, he broke under the loss and tragedy renewed. He'd never cried harder in his life, but he felt that there was never anybody who deserved his grief and tears more.

He was gasping, couldn't breathe. Tried to suck in air, but nothing was entering his lungs. He had to stop crying so that he wouldn't faint-

Dart's eyes opened, and they were met with darkness as his cries calmed down. He actually couldn't breathe, and it was because his face was pressed into a pillow. He'd cried once or twice in dreams before, but never awakened to find actual tears on his cheeks. And now he felt a bit ridiculous, with his nose streaming onto the pillow and residual gasping as he worked to stop crying entirely. Yes, Pit had still killed himself but beyond the shock in the initial aftermath, he hadn't shed any tears. He didn't know why he would be visited with pain as fresh as he had felt holding the broken angel in his arms now, months after the fact.

He sighed, wiped off his face, and flipped the pillow over. He'd better not have any more awful dreams tonight.


End file.
